Category Archives: tips

There is a line in the novel “Anna Karenina,” that says, “be bad, but at least don’t be a liar, a deceiver.”

Tolstoy most likely didn’t intend for that to be applied to the working world, but it does. And it’s something more people should probably take note of. In fact, a recent survey conducted for CareerBuilder, an online job board, found that 77% of human resources (HR) managers reported discovering a lie on a resume.

While many outright lies were spotted, those surveyed also noted that they discovered several errors on resumes they received. These were two of the most notable.

An applicant’s name was auto-corrected from “Flin” to “Flintstone.” His name was Freddie.

An applicant stated they had great attention to detail, but “attention” was misspelled.

Some other resume cringe-worthy blunders reported in the survey included:

An applicant listed a skill as “taking long walks.”

An applicant claimed he would work harder if paid more.

An applicant wrote the following at the end of their resume: “I didn’t really fill this out, someone did it for me.”

An applicant used a resume template with cats in the corners.

An applicant listed smoking under hobbies.

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Methodology

To gather this information, CareerBuilder used Harris Poll to survey 2,153 hiring and HR managers ages 18 and older. All those surveyed were full-time employees who are not self-employed and do not work for the government. The survey, which was conducted from May 11 to June 7, 2016, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.11 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, according to the press release.

What Employers Really Want to See

The survey reported that more than two in five hiring managers spend less than a minute looking at a resume, with nearly one in four saying they spend less than 30 seconds. To stand out, 63% of those surveyed said they are more likely to pay attention to a resume that is customized to the role they’re applying for, while 41% said they look at those with skill sets listed first. Other items that caught their eye is when a cover letter is included, an application is addressed to the specific hiring manager and a resume includes a link to a candidate’s blog, portfolio or website.

It’s also important to remember that many employers look at a version of your credit report as part of the application process and your credit is certainly something you can’t fib your way around. So, it’s a good idea to take a look at your credit reports and get an idea of what’s on there — and to dispute any errors that may be weighing you down. You can see a free credit report summary, updated every 14 days, on Credit.com.

“I’m working full-time at my job and part-time on my fortune.” – Jim Rohn about working two jobs.

We both have two full-time jobs and our own business, which equates to us both having two full-time jobs. We do our full-time jobs during traditional daytime hours and manage our business early in the morning, at night and on weekends. I like to say our lives are spent in cubicles and kitchens.

This requires solid organizational skills. Even when we’re not working on our own business, our business is still working. It requires constant nurturing and attention, at all hours of the day.

Below are four of the habits and tools we use to stay organized.

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1. List Apps

There are many apps out there that can help people get organized. One of my all-time favorite apps is AnyList. (There is a free version or yearly subscriptions for $7.99 for individuals or $11.99 for families.) For people that like lists and get satisfaction from crossing off items on them, AnyList could be a helpful tool for you. We’ve synced our AnyList apps so we stay on top of tasks together even when we’re apart.

We have several running lists that we manage to stay organized. Two such lists are “David’s To Dos” and “John’s To Dos.” As things need completion, we add them to our lists. If I think of something David needs to do, I add it to his To Do list and vice versa. Another such list is our “Ideas” list. Invariably, ideas for our business pop in our heads at inconvenient times. If we don’t write down our ideas, we’ll never remember them when it’s time to take action. This is why Benjamin Franklin took a notepad with him everywhere he went. We share the same “Ideas” list and both add to and cross off or delete items as needed.

Our work from AnyList that can’t be done in one sitting moves to another app we use called Trello, which has both a web-based and app platform. (Trello has three price tiers: free, $8.33 per month, and $20.83 per month.) We create a card for a particular project and use Trello to keep track of To Dos, next steps, key contacts and deadlines. We can each access the same Trello account and tag each other, as necessary, as we each have our specialties and interests.

2. Minimal Decision Making

This tool is important but, to be fair, it’s hard to adopt. Most lists about the common habits of successful people mention that they avoid making small decisions. Decisions such as what to do, what to eat and what to wear, as simple as they are, add up and steal energy from more important decisions.

Making numerous unimportant decisions causes decision-making fatigue. Avoiding small decisions is why successful people, such as Mark Zuckerberg, wear the same clothes most days. Wearing new clothes every day is a modern luxury that steals useful decision-making energy.

We exercise the same schedule for each hour that we spend on our personal business. We have two breakfast options and eat the same breakfast the same day each week. The same goes for lunch. We cook one large dinner once a week. That’s dinner all week except for the one day, the same day each week, that we stop at either one of two quick-casual restaurants for takeout. We do the same exercises on the same day at the same time each week.

All this lets us better spend energy on more important decisions.

3. Say No

As a business grows and becomes successful, it gets more offers and requests of all types. When we started out, we were eager to accept most anything. As we’ve grown, some offers and requests have become less advantageous or not in-line with our business goals. This requires us to be more discerning about what we do and don’t do.

Saying no is liberating. It’s easy to get caught up in everyone else’s dreams and expectations, which can mean hurting our own. This is true in business and life.

4. Avoid the Small Stuff

Two functions for our business that can easily become wastes of time are email and social media. It’s the 21st century and most of our business is online. It’s nearly impossible to run any business today, especially one like ours, without email or social media.

However, every email doesn’t require a response or even a reading. We quickly discern what emails are important and what emails are not. Removing the unimportant emails from our plate saves time.

The same goes for social media. We use social media to grow our business and stay connected with our followers. This often includes using both our professional and personal social media platforms. It’s all too easy, though, to find that we’ve been done with business and spent the last 30 minutes mindlessly scrolling through less valuable content.

These are some of the more helpful tools we use to stay organized in what could be very disorganized lives. Whether you’re managing your own business, someone else’s business or your life, all these tools can be helpful. Do what works for you.

“I’m working full-time at my job and part-time on my fortune.” – Jim Rohn about working two jobs.

We both have two full-time jobs and our own business, which equates to us both having two full-time jobs. We do our full-time jobs during traditional daytime hours and manage our business early in the morning, at night and on weekends. I like to say our lives are spent in cubicles and kitchens.

This requires solid organizational skills. Even when we’re not working on our own business, our business is still working. It requires constant nurturing and attention, at all hours of the day.

Below are four of the habits and tools we use to stay organized.

Free Credit Consultation - Call 844-346-3296

1. List Apps

There are many apps out there that can help people get organized. One of my all-time favorite apps is AnyList. (There is a free version or yearly subscriptions for $7.99 for individuals or $11.99 for families.) For people that like lists and get satisfaction from crossing off items on them, AnyList could be a helpful tool for you. We’ve synced our AnyList apps so we stay on top of tasks together even when we’re apart.

We have several running lists that we manage to stay organized. Two such lists are “David’s To Dos” and “John’s To Dos.” As things need completion, we add them to our lists. If I think of something David needs to do, I add it to his To Do list and vice versa. Another such list is our “Ideas” list. Invariably, ideas for our business pop in our heads at inconvenient times. If we don’t write down our ideas, we’ll never remember them when it’s time to take action. This is why Benjamin Franklin took a notepad with him everywhere he went. We share the same “Ideas” list and both add to and cross off or delete items as needed.

Our work from AnyList that can’t be done in one sitting moves to another app we use called Trello, which has both a web-based and app platform. (Trello has three price tiers: free, $8.33 per month, and $20.83 per month.) We create a card for a particular project and use Trello to keep track of To Dos, next steps, key contacts and deadlines. We can each access the same Trello account and tag each other, as necessary, as we each have our specialties and interests.

2. Minimal Decision Making

This tool is important but, to be fair, it’s hard to adopt. Most lists about the common habits of successful people mention that they avoid making small decisions. Decisions such as what to do, what to eat and what to wear, as simple as they are, add up and steal energy from more important decisions.

Making numerous unimportant decisions causes decision-making fatigue. Avoiding small decisions is why successful people, such as Mark Zuckerberg, wear the same clothes most days. Wearing new clothes every day is a modern luxury that steals useful decision-making energy.

We exercise the same schedule for each hour that we spend on our personal business. We have two breakfast options and eat the same breakfast the same day each week. The same goes for lunch. We cook one large dinner once a week. That’s dinner all week except for the one day, the same day each week, that we stop at either one of two quick-casual restaurants for takeout. We do the same exercises on the same day at the same time each week.

All this lets us better spend energy on more important decisions.

3. Say No

As a business grows and becomes successful, it gets more offers and requests of all types. When we started out, we were eager to accept most anything. As we’ve grown, some offers and requests have become less advantageous or not in-line with our business goals. This requires us to be more discerning about what we do and don’t do.

Saying no is liberating. It’s easy to get caught up in everyone else’s dreams and expectations, which can mean hurting our own. This is true in business and life.

4. Avoid the Small Stuff

Two functions for our business that can easily become wastes of time are email and social media. It’s the 21st century and most of our business is online. It’s nearly impossible to run any business today, especially one like ours, without email or social media.

However, every email doesn’t require a response or even a reading. We quickly discern what emails are important and what emails are not. Removing the unimportant emails from our plate saves time.

The same goes for social media. We use social media to grow our business and stay connected with our followers. This often includes using both our professional and personal social media platforms. It’s all too easy, though, to find that we’ve been done with business and spent the last 30 minutes mindlessly scrolling through less valuable content.

These are some of the more helpful tools we use to stay organized in what could be very disorganized lives. Whether you’re managing your own business, someone else’s business or your life, all these tools can be helpful. Do what works for you.